How do I get rid of the comma in Calc?
October 1, 2007 3:34 AM   Subscribe

I am not happy with the decimal separator for my locale in Calc, anyone know how to go about fixing it?

OpenOffice Calc thinks that the decimal separator for my locale (Greek) should be the comma. I would rather use a dot, as is common in a scientific or technical setting.

It looks like there is no easy way to change this, appart from using a different locale. FAQs suggest using an English format as default for Calc cells, but that is not a real solution, as it messes up date formating and won't work with literal values in formulas.

I probably have the technical skills to fix this, but can't afford to spend then next three months studying OO sources over something like this. A new locale ( something like "Greek (Alternate)" ) would be ideal for me, but I don't know how invasive this kind of change is: Do I have to fudge with an xml file somewhere, or do I need to patch the source and recompile everything?

If anyone around here has experience contributing to OO, do you think I should follow through with this or just shut up and use a comma ?

I realise this is a Bad Idea on several levels, but the comma really bugs me - Help me decide wether I fix this or let it go
posted by the number 17 to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)
 
Try exporting LC_ALL=C before running oocalc. From a bash command line:

$ LC_ALL=C oocalc
posted by grouse at 3:52 AM on October 1, 2007


Oh, I missed the part where you're also concerned about date formatting. I tried to set LC_NUMERIC but it didn't seem to work. You might want to try seting LC_ALL to some locale that has exactly what you want (maybe en_GB?).
posted by grouse at 3:56 AM on October 1, 2007


Response by poster: Oh, I missed the part where you're also concerned about date formatting

This is the whole point: I don't want to change all of my locale, just the separator.

Also, OO has its own locale setting, accessible from the GUI.

And one of my machines runs Windows, didn't mention that.
posted by the number 17 at 4:25 AM on October 1, 2007


[Windows has fine-grained locale settings available somewhere under Control Panel.]

My copy of OOCalc has a dialog available under Tools/Options. Under "Language Settings/Languages" are a number of settings including a tickbox to use or not use the default decimal seperator for your locale. Untick it?
posted by genghis at 6:05 AM on October 1, 2007


Response by poster: [Windows has fine-grained locale settings available somewhere under Control Panel.]

I have already set this the way I like, won't help with Calc.

Under "Language Settings/Languages" are a number of settings including a tickbox to use or not use the default decimal seperator for your locale. Untick it?

As far as I can tell, this only remaps the dot key on the numerical keypad. It is actually very usefull if you *want* to use the comma.
posted by the number 17 at 6:37 AM on October 1, 2007


Is it possible to create a whole new locale in Calc, and set it up exactly how you want? Jut thinking out loud.
posted by Solomon at 6:55 AM on October 1, 2007


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